Time and Time Again
by BlackDevil WhiteDemon
Summary: Goro dies. Akira wakes up at 5:48AM on Saturday 23, 2016. Rinse and repeat. Akira is ready to claw his own skin off.


**This is straight up my English assignment. I'm a senior in high school who was told to do a 'hero narrative writing' that had to be at least 3 pages long. **

**This story is 34 pages long. The librarian at my school had to make 4 trips from the backroom to me just to hand me all my papers. Oof. All my classmates were like 'wat.' and '?!'. They were very confused and surprised. Even my teacher asked me why, but she seemed to be in good humor about it. Like, I had to use a binder clip to hold my assignment together since it obviously couldn't be stapled. **

**The moment I heard that you had free-reins on a writing assignment I immediately knew I was going to write a fanfcition. I wrote all of this in 8 days. That's the most I've written in a small amount of time. **

**I stayed up until 2:30AM yesterday to finish it. Even woke up late at 6:45AM and proofread this until 7:20AM. I barely made it to school on time. I wrote like, 5,000 yesterday… Wow. And I wanted to make it longer! I just ran of time and energy, my mother was yelling at me to go to bed and was ready to yell at my teacher too. XD**

**Anyway, here's my fanfiction I wrote for homework. It's kinda holds your hand, but I was writing this by keeping in mind that my teacher most likely doesn't know anything about Persona. And obviously this is an AU of some sort...I don't even think I could clearly define what the AU really is. I kinda just took aspects of the game and shoved them in to allude to backstory? So, yeah… Here you go.**

**(The whole last section is kind of a cop out, but that was the only way I could do the thing I wanted without having to get rid of them,,,it was so early in the morning,,,I couldn't go on. I had to shorten it,,, I might write a squeal fic that goes into detail about the stuff near the end, as I couldn't manage it here.)**

**Btw, the greater than signs don't show up on this site, so I put them as ( instead. It comes up for the texting part. It looks awkward, but there's nothing less I can do.**

Edit 11/13/2019: **Okay, so I got back my story yesterday. I got an A. It was a 95%. I lost 5% because I forgot (and didn't know how to do) the MLA thing where you put your last name in the corner with the page number. But my performance task score was 4! Which is the highest score, so it's all Gucci.**

**My teacher's comment was the following:** I think you could have shorten the story but I'm glad you put in the work.

Good use of dialogue.

**And on the first page she wrote:** Good detail.

**She said it took her 25 minutes to read it, to which I replied with 'I wish I could read that fast'.**

* * *

There was silence in the nothing. That's the first thing Akira notices. The blood pumping so deep and rapidly through his ears felt like no sound at all. Like nothing could be heard. Because there was nothing. Just a boy's dwindled frame crushed between the unforgiving metal machine. Akira felt his heart both leap out of his chest and jump into his throat. His usual serene gray eyes widen behind the frames of his horn-rimmed glasses. Time seemed to crawl its way to a standstill, stroking a chilly finger down his spine. Was he really watching this? Was this really happening right in front of him?

When his hearing came back to him and his breath reached him once more, he heard the screaming first. It was one of bystanders and his friends, but he disregarded them. His focus leaned on the boy under the car. Even as Akira wished to run over there and see if Goro still had life in him, his legs were like jelly and felt ripe for collapsing.

He was quickly pulled out of the scene thereafter. Akira stumbled onto the ground of the Velvet Room; blue tiles of various shades assaulted his eyes. The Velvet Room was a pocket space between the Metaverse and the reality in which everyone lived in. Akira had reassured himself time and time again that he would never have to see this place again. Especially since the Metaverse merged with the real world after that false god had been slain.

But the Velvet Room existed between the two planes. It stood as a testament against it. Still here. Forever.

He lets himself lay on the cold floor. Letting his skin cool off from where it made contact with the linoleum. His breaths were erratic, and his eyes screwed themselves shut. He knew who would be waiting there for him if he opened them. That of which the teen had no desire to see them just yet.

"Trickster? Are you alright?" A soft voice fluttered, but to him it assaulted his ears. The tell-tale_ click click _of heels told him that Lavenza was approaching him. Most likely to offer him assistants to get him up. "Trickster?" Again, her soft-spoken words call out to him.

"If you want a hasty exit; I assure you, getting up would be most beneficial. Don't you want to know what's going on?" There it is, that annoying voice of Igor. High pitched and nasally, it doesn't seem like a voice that would belong to a being such as himself. At this prompting though, Akira got up, accepting the outstretched hand of Lavenza. She was quick to pull him up to his feet. Patting his arm in a reassuring manner before walking back to her master's side at the desk.

"..." The teen tried to speak with no words coming out. He sucked in a breath and attempted to recuperate himself. "What...-" he gasped, suddenly finding himself out of breath- "happened?"

Igor; ever calm and shrouded in mystique, grinned wider. He didn't bother moving from his usual seat at his desk. Hands locked in a tea-time rest pose; his watching eyes held a constant show of amusement that rarely left them. Today was absolutely no different. "Isn't it obvious? The other trickster has died."

"But..." That didn't make any sense on why he was still here. This place shouldn't even be available to him anymore. "Goro never entered here. He was locked out." Surely his death — oh God, he didn't want to think about the implications that he could think that phase with finality — wouldn't be able to trigger this? He couldn't possibly wrap his head around it. And he killed a false god a couple of months ago. It's safe to say that Akira understood a plethora more about things than most do.

"Correct as you are, what you neglect to remember is that _you _still have access to the Velvet Room. You just simply cannot enter as your leisure akin to once before. At this instant, you have been summoned." Lavenza elucidates to help him with his ignorance.

Igor eases his position in his chair at her words. Akira on the opposite hand feels a peep of anger flare from within. _Summoned!? _He was summoned here?! Of all things, why now at _that _moment? He had more important things to think about-more important things to _do. _He grinds his teeth, but besides that, he betrayed no other form of expression on his face nor in mannerisms. "What do you mean?" If there was one thing he learned from awaking in this place from the past year he used it, it was not to expect straight forward answers from the folks here. Granted, it had turned out that the Igor he talked to was an impostor and the attendants were Lavenza split into a set of twins. Even if now he was faced with the real Igor and an attendant that was whole...he didn't expect them to be any better from before just because they're more genuine this time around.

And guess what? He was right.

"Ah, it is blunt and rather in your face. Yet you fail to see it. Do you not understand a gift of charity when it is presented itself to you?"

Akira frowned. What was Igor getting at?

"There is no more time for chit-chat." The queer man dismissed the teen with a wave of his gloved hand. "You can't leave until you get it right. Play the game properly this time. Won't you, Wildcard?"

"Is that what you want?" Akira asked without looking at him, without truly wondering.

"This is not our game. We can only give so much aid to you. Not even Master is certain of the outcomes." The sickly yellow eyes of the attendant burned holes into his skin. Watching him, studying him. "Good luck. Please wake up now."

* * *

When he opened his eyes again, they are met with an oil slicked black. Light had not shone in through the window and he was sure he could hear Morgana snoring somewhere in the darkness. He was in bed in the attic of café Leblanc.

The teen sits up quickly, ignoring the pulsating _thump thump _of his head. "What...?" He scrambled around in the soft darkness for his electronic device. When he finds his phone and looks for the time, even the dim lighting of the screen begins to burn his retinas. It's 5:48 in the morn. He hisses quietly to himself. It's much too early for this. Though he also needs to get things done. To get some stuff straight. He spends no more time wasted. He swings his legs over the bed and trailed down his stairs to the downstairs area. The café was stagnant with chairs stacked on top of table booths. The stools at the front were empty and the glass door and windows shone only the light of the opposite streetlamps. He ignored all of this and made his way to the bathroom. Flicking on the lights once more brought a small searing pain to his eyes. Akira stared into the mirror. Without his glasses on he could see a lot more of his face. A combination of his long fluffy bangs and large glasses obscure his face. Mostly his eyes and eyebrows, making it harder for others to tell how he was feeling. Just an extra precaution so that he didn't attract attention. The teen was never expressive to begin with, but he wanted to hide his face. And a mask isn't socially acceptable...but large glasses...

Water rushed through the sink; the sound ugly to his ears. An indignant noise, one that would seem that the sink was cotton-stuffed full of morose feelings. Cross and old. He cupped his hand under the gushing stream and collected the life-giving liquid to his face. Despite all the times he's watched and read people doing this when they are in desperate need of calming down, he felt no calmer from when he had woken up in bed. The taciturn boy's mouth formed a grimace and he let out an expletive from his lips, feeling his stress level only rising more.

Seeing that this would all do him no good, he tracked back upstairs—nearly avoiding stepping on Morgana in his way back to his bed. Ah, that wouldn't be good if he stepped on his talking cat. Not at all. He plotted back onto the mattress and sighed. He checks the time again for no reason at all (maybe besides habit). The phone read 5:59, Saturday 23, 2016.

Wait...yesterday was Saturday 23, 2016.

"That's what they meant..." If Akira hadn't been the leader to a group of magic boys/girls and lived with a talking cat that was convinced he used to be a human, he would've reacted differently. Perhaps with an onset of panic or with more trepidation leaving disgusting kisses down his neck. Now though? Not exactly what he's used to, but time froze on him and his friends once before, so he unfortunately can't say this is the first time he's been involved with time shenanigans. Why do those beings that insist they're gods hate him so much? He wonders for a single moment if he was a particularly bad person in his last life, but the thought is soon brushed off with the prospect of more important things being addressed.

Like the fact today is yesterday, so there's no tomorrow?

It's Saturday and he was supposed to hang out with his boyfriend, Goro. Which he technically already did and_ that _happened-

He takes in a shuddering breath. Maybe he should sleep for another hour or so and meet up with Goro then. He had obviously been given a chance to avoid a life changing event. Maybe the two of them will just stop by some café and he'll ask his friends to hang out at the arcade instead. Yeah, that's good. He needs to sleep...

* * *

At about 7:45AM, Akira finds himself wiping away the condensation from his glasses. The culprit being? His coffee.

He's glad he can hear his boyfriend snickering besides him at the goofiness before him. He's glad he didn't complain when Akira immediately had him in a bone crushing hug when they finally met up earlier. He's glad he lives/works at a café and knows that there's much better coffee out there then the schmuck they're drinking. But hey, this place is on the opposite direction from where_ that _took place. So, he takes in all the victories he can. He was never an outwardly picky person.

"Ah, why don't you just take those off when you have hot drinks? Or just any hot food for that matter..." Goro set his cup down with grace on the table. His hands were absent of his black gloves he seemed to take with himself everywhere. Akira still isn't used to the sight of his bare hands in public.

What an odd sentence to say.

"It's not like you even need those." The longer haired boy continues, red eyes resting their gaze on Akira's face. "We all know it's fake lenses. Which; now that I've brought it up, you never did tell me how you got them."

_Oh yeah. I promise I'll tell him some other time. _The noiret smirks at the brunet. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Goro takes another sip of his coffee. "Why yes, I do. That's why I asked."

This makes Akira laugh before he sits up straight, resting his elbows on its shiny surface. He leans into him, the other inching back a tad bit to regain the lost space between them.

"Cosplay."

"Eh?"

"I bought them online from a cosplay site. That's why the lenses are fake instead of empty."

His boyfriend huffs and shakes his head. Muttering something about his answer being even worse than he thought. Akira can't help but laugh again and begin the process of finishing his subpar drink.

He tries not to think about what happened in the true 23rd. Once they had a nice walk down some random street filled with this sort of nothing talk Akira tends to initiate, he rings up his friends to see if they can hang in the arcade. Strangely enough, Ann, Ryuji, and Yusuke all agree to come. However, both Haru and Makoto decline. Which is odd considering they were with the rest of them before...in the other 23rd. This is getting hard to explain. _Is something as simple as a change in scenery enough for them to not want to tag along? _He knew they were not busy. Only Futaba is, which is why he hadn't bothered contacting her.

"The blond(e)s and Yusuke are coming. The others can't make it." _Or don't want to. _He thinks. "You want to head over there now, or do you still want to grab crepes?" he instead said.

The ever so slightly taller boy bumps shoulders with Akira before showing off a smile. "Is it bad that I still want the crepes?"

"Nope babe. Nothing wrong there at all." It doesn't sound much like a joke to be honest, but with his dry delivery it might as well be. "I'll pay. Do you want the blueberry? You might wanna try one that isn't strawberry for once."

"I can pay for myself." He sounded indignant.

"You didn't answer my question."

A sigh. "Yes. I suppose. I don't see why not."

"Great." He drew out the word; and for quite what reason? Who knows? "Stay here."

"You don't need to buy-"

"I can't hear you!" Akira bought them both crepes and the pair unanimously agreed that they were plainly mediocre. If not a little dull with the sweetness.

* * *

Akira had left his guard down after they had departed from the arcade and bid their friends goodbye. Goro had asked him if he wanted to stay the night at his place. That of which Akira was sure to send a quick text to his guardian, Sojiro, of where he would be. Now, the cat in the bag begged to differ.

"What? You dragged me along in your little date and now I have to go with you to his place?!" Understandably Morgana wasn't thrilled about the whole endeavor.

"Mona, it wasn't necessarily a date. And we hanged out with the others!" Akira argued with the cat in his shoulder bag. Luckily this part of the train station was sparse with people for whatever reason. Goro just lazily peered at him from the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, but I wanted to finish the rest of that late-night program!" It was eerie how similar Morgana was whining like a child.

"You can watch TV there!" he retaliated. "And you're the one who's always telling me to sleep early..." The boy mutters the last part to himself, which does not go unnoticed by his cat. Said cat reminds him that he can vacate anytime he wants. "Fine. I'll abandon you in the woods." He hears Goro shuffle a laugh.

"You wouldn't dare, you love me too much."

Akira decides the only proper choice of action to partake here is the legendary skill passed among pet owners. The **boop**.

"Ack!"

"You're right. You're my sun and stars. Are you happy?"

"Not with that tone of voice, no."

There is a chuckle. "As much as I'm sure the two of you would like to continue your banter, our train is shortly arriving, and I would like to think you don't want to get caught talking to a cat that's meowing quite loudly back. You would have to pay the pet fare then." Goro teases as he gets up from the wooden bench they were on and places himself closer to the platform.

Normal people couldn't understand Morgana. The gang could because well, again, they used to be a group of magic boys/girls. Not everyone could say they've had life throw that occupation at them. This simple rule is even the reason why his group knew that Goro knew more than he led on. When Akira's team extended to only Morgana, Ann, Ryuji, and himself; there was a slip-up. His team had been discussing nothing of importance when Morgana mentioned something about pancakes. When Goro 'bumped' into them, he ended up asking where they were going to get pancakes. That's after asking if they were Shujin students and how their school was like. After that, they knew he had to be like them.

That's all in the past now, that whole year was hectic, with death and false gods presenting themselves.

Now it was time to live in normalcy and while they won't forget what happened (and all that was said and done) at least it was time to let go.

Akira stroke the black cat before coaxing him further back into the bag. He swung it over his shoulder without much momentum and jogged up besides his boyfriend. "So, now that we're here..." Goro turns his head to better face him. He raised an eyebrow for him to continue. "I just wanted to know if you had anything in mind or is it gonna be one of those 'when we get there' sort of deal?"

Goro goes into pretend thought, accompanied by a signature hand resting on his chin. "Hmmm... That's hard to say." There's a slight crinkle to his eyes with a hint of levity mixed into his voice. "I was thinking of watching a film. Maybe cuddling after...?"

The way he sounded like an excited child trying to pretend they weren't interested made Akira's heart soar._ Cute. _"Netflix and chill. Got it."

There's a choked cough and a flustered face as an initial response. "No, that's not-" A wind brushes past them that only got stronger by the second. Indicating that the train was hot on their heels. Goro lets out a puff and turns his attention back to the tracks.

This is where Akira messed up.

There's a yell, the first thing indicating that something is terribly wrong. People yelling at someone, about someone. That someone descended upon them in the form of a crazed-eyed looking man, sprinting like Mister Splitfoot himself was in hot pursuit. What he yelled? Akira doesn't remember. What he does remember was how he's sure there was a glinting object in his hand and how the man's front was caked in red. He remembers how the man tackled Goro and the person standing next to the pair to the tracks just as the train...

Akira's next awakening is a flurry of movement. Morgana is quick to wake from all the noise, which displeases his cat to a great extent. He's all choked breaths and confusion is a common theme on scene.

"Woah, Akira! Calm down!"

He can't—couldn't possibly. What the Hell did he do wrong this time?! He had made sure they were far away from the park where Goro was hit by a truck. Then he nearly made it through the day and some crazy guy takes out both Goro and some unfortunate stranger. _And somebody else judging by his clothes... _The thought of the blood belonging to the man himself did in fact cross his mind. Though it is quickly forgotten in favor of ripping his blanket off, blindly finding his light switch, and ignoring Morgana's panicked chirps. The teen wastes no time running down the stairs like a madman to reach the restroom. He releases the contents of his stomach into the mouth of the porcelain throne. His neck burns and he feels tears sting his eyes. All he can do is take a gulp of air before heaving out even more bile. He's spitting to get out the extra and perhaps some of that nasty taste out of his mouth by the time Morgana gets to him.

"Geez, Akira! What's wrong?" His voice is mortified and concerned, and it makes Akira want to spit bile. The quell of anxiety he felt radiating off his cat doesn't help his case any further.

He can't find it in himself to talk.

* * *

It is after he made sure to clean the bathroom and gargle mouthwash and brush his teeth did he finally lie down in bed. He stared at the ceiling which provided him with a view of glow in the dark plastic stars he had gotten from Yusuke a year back. They did not help to calm the stomach, hot and knotted. He'd rather be in a tub of ice-cold water. At least then he could stand the feeling. There was a shift on his bed, and he looked down at his cat whom had jumped into bed with him. He sat on his legs and ask with a concerned voice, "Nightmares?"

And Akira? Akira just nods.

His mouth felt much too dry to communicate in any other way. He chokes on air alone and feverishly feels for his phone for light so that he may locate his water bottle. Chucking down gulps of water feels like a relief from a sandstorm. Morgana brushes himself against Akira's midriff. "Want to lie on the floor?"

A common question, really. But today Akira says no. He needs to ponder; he needs to plan for a better today. Heading outside is obviously not going to work. The chances of an event like that happening was...**damnit**. He felt like these events were rigged.

He checks the time on his screen. 6:28AM, it read. He was going to need a new plan.

* * *

His new plan comes in the form of absolutely refusing to come outside. Sort of. He decides it would be safer if Goro just stayed in with him. He throws on day clothes with a jacket and heads outside for a quick trip. He needs to get them both breakfast first. When he returns to Leblanc with two brown bags of takeout, he is met with a raised eyebrow from Sojiro. The older man was wiping down the counter and performing any last-minute set up for the café. Akira gives him a quick spiel about having cancelled his plans for an outing and just having Goro stay upstairs with him. He even throws in that the boy will probably sleepover, even though he has neglected to even send Goro the text asking yet.

Sojiro shakes his head and sighs but ultimately, he just tells him to make sure they don't make too much noise they or else they'll 'scare away the customers'.

He manages only a shoddy smile and agrees.

Upstairs he is greeted to a Morgana sitting on the railing of the stairs that cut into the attic. The cat's nose twitches at the smell of food, which Akira immediately notices. He feels a twinge of remorse. He went about everything so briskly he forgot to feed his friend. "If you're hungry, you can go downstairs. No one's down there yet so Sojiro could possibly fix you something." Akira's no longer looking at him by the time he sets down the hot food on his desk and grabs his phone to shoot Goro the text. He can hear the cat jumping his way down and knew he was gone. The boy lets himself fall onto his bed.

_Contact: _**_Bae(3_ **

**You awake?**

Bae(3:** Of course, it's past 6 already.**

**Just checking :p**

**changes of plans tho**

Bae(3: **?**

**Meet me at my place we'll just hang out there**

**Bring sleeping clothes**

Bae(3:** I thought you wanted to go back to that park where you got attacked by ducks. :/**

**Don't remind me**

Bae(3: **I told you not to jump in.**

**Yeah yeah**

**Listen**

**I just don't feel like heading outside today**

**I got food if you're hungry**

**Is that alright?**

Bae(3:** Of course. I'll see you in a bit.**

**K Love you.**

He didn't respond immediately, and Akira stared at his phone for a moment. He was going to send him a text asking if he was alright, but the three dots popped up. Goro was typing again.

Bae3: **I love you too **

He lets out a sigh of relief and lays his arm over his eyes.

It's nearly 8 when he hears footsteps ascend the stairs. Akira had already eaten his food, albeit in a slow manner. He's just not feeding too hungry today, but he knows he's going to regret it later if he didn't put food into his body. This led him to having to force down the meal, but he didn't gag enough to throw up and waited until Morgana had exited through the window to.

His cat was back now though. All comfy and smug about laying on Akira's chest. Effective immobilizing him. If there are any rules to life, one for certain is that a pet owner does not move when their cat is sleeping or laying on them. The more you know.

Goro arrives on scene with a chuckle leaving his lips and a travel bag slung over his shoulder. "That puts bodyguard on a whole new level."

Akira turns to face him from his prison. He smiles. It'll be much easier to make sure nothing happens if they're cooped up together. "Hey Honey."

"Akira." He's about to put down his travel bag when-

"Hey Goro!"

Goro jumps at the voice of the cat who leaps who leaps off the body. Morgana laughs (the _audacity _) and apologies for scaring him. The boy waves it off as fine, though he suspiciously drops his bag a pitch too close to Morgana's tail. Said cat hisses and retreats to the safety of under the desk.

The boy with the glasses is sure to huff at the whole display and sits up to let the other occupy the empty space. Shouldn't waste that. "So..." Goro took to stretching his arms out and a satisfying _pop _noise came from his backside. "May I ask what encouraged your sour disposition? You seemed rather insistent when we made the details. You _really _wanted to go back to that park."

_Huh. He's already asking _that _question. Going right for the kill. _Akira shrugs. What should he say? What even could he say? **_Ah, yes, I'm experiencing a time loop in which you die. It's happened twice already and I'm getting real worried. Scared even._ **Yeah, that'll go down just fine. "Stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Is it stuff you possibly want to talk about?"

"Goro, your food is getting cold."

He receives a scowl from dodging the questions like a kid in P.E., but it's quickly disregarded as the brunet takes the paper bag and shifts through it. "You went to Thanks a Latte?" He changes the topic of conversation and for that, he is graceful. Besides, Akira can plainly see Morgana trying to burn a hole through his head. As if that will crop up the answers he wants regarding Akira's mental health.

"Yes. That place has a stupid name, I keep finding myself being drawn to it."

Goro sighs and pick out a muffin sandwich. "You're hopeless," is he only deduction.

"You love me anyway."

"I must be crazy then, Dear."

Akira grins and looks towards the floor. A flash of memory from what Igor and Lavenza had said to him resurfaces. He closes his eyes and wonders if he is too.

* * *

He does not know what time it is when he wakes up. Darkness greets him once more and it feels like a chilly presence lingering on his skin. He can feel it—the darkness. He faces the side in some futile attempt to see if Goro is still there, sleeping on the couch since his makeshift bed barely fits Akira. It would not fit two. Of course, he can't see anything. It must be in the dead of night. He shifts over and feels the floor for his phone, once he finds it, he quickly choses the flashlight option and looks around the room.

He's not paranoid, he's being cautious.

Looking around only revels to him an empty couch with Morgana snuggling the spare blanket. He is awfully tempted to wake the cat up and inquiry to the whereabouts of his boyfriend, but the time on his phone had read 12:23. Indicating that Goro was still very much alive, just not here at the moment. The thought of him just being gone to use the bathroom crossed his mind, but it was quickly sniped down with excellent precision. If he had done so, Morgana would be awake as there wouldn't have been enough time to fall back asleep. Especially because he knew Morgana was in bed with him early as usual, which meant the cat had gotten up and jumped onto the couch to occupy it.

After taking another swing, he woke up the cat to see what he knew. (Texting Goro never occurred to him for some reason.) Morgana grumbled after being disturbed from his nightly rest but yawned and asked what was wrong.

"Where's Goro?" Right over the chase he went.

"Huh? That's it?" he slurred. "He went to do some errand or something like that? I think he's getting something for you two..." He pawed at his eyes and yawned again, clearly not used to being up this late. If this was any other day, any normal God-given Saturday, he would have thought Morgana's actions to be adorable. Probably coo over him while he's at it. However, today he doesn't care, and thanks him before apologizing for waking him up. Morgana just noises a response and go right back to getting comfortable.

Akira does nothing but lay back in bed and wait for Goro to return.

Not.

He blinks harshly to forces himself to adjust to the brightness of his screen and send Goro a text, asking where he was.

**Hey babe. Where are you right now?**

**Woke uo and saw you wren;t there**

**Mona tells me youre out getting something**

**At this hour?**

**:(**

His texts are interlaced with mistakes, but he doesn't care. He's too tired and typing to fast to care. He gets a response almost immediately.

Bae(3:** Sorry. I didn't think you would wake up, but just in case I told Morgana.**

Bae(3: **Guess that was a good idea then?**

Bae(3:** Don't worry. I'm just getting my laptop from the station. **

Bae(3: **I have a day off tomorrow but as a detective, I should use that opportunity to catch up on some things.**

Bae(3:** I'm bring back some snacks too. :^)**

Akira is flooded with relief upon reading the text. Goro would get back here quickly, daytime will come. And he can just forget this little thing ever happened.

A part of him is annoyed that he's still thinking about work, but considering that he's been a detective since he was 15 (something that got him instantly famous, even if other law keepers didn't tend to take him all that seriously) he's still working the same habits as an 18 year old. Akira may be only a year younger and in his last year of high school, but even he can see that the boy is a clear-cut case of a workaholic. He kisses his teeth and waits for him to get back.

**K**

**Get back safe then**

Bae(3:** Will do.**

**(3**

Bae(3:** (3**

Akira feels sick despite the sappy exchange.

* * *

His gut was right and there is nothing is the way of this time. For there won't be a next time, never mind a tomorrow. There's hardly even a today!

Akira reentered the realms of dreams while waiting for Goro to get back. It was dark again and he checked his phone. 5:59, Saturday 23, 2016. His screen mocked. _No no no no no no no- _Goro must've die along the way of returning back to Leblanc. Akira's an idiot to think something random wouldn't happened to him when he's alone outside at night. In frustration or maybe even grief, he yells and punch his pillow, causing Morgana to immediately wake up and yelp.

"What the-!?"

But Akira's not even listening as tears form and he wonders what tomorrow will bring. If there is a tomorrow. If he can ever live one again. He wonders…

Why this isn't working.

* * *

Akira goes a 4th round. He decided to go back outside and have everyone (excluding Futaba) hang at the park. Though this time he makes sure they'll leave to go somewhere else at a much earlier time. Therefore, avoiding the truck collision.

He looks up at his friends. With everything going on, he forgot that they were all there to witness it too. The first time Goro died.

He hates it. The fact he can say that sentence. When he finds out whatever entity is pulling the string to get this stuff to occur, he'll kill them too. Kill a god once and everyone thinks you can do it again, right? Well maybe he _can _do it a second time.

He sure hopes he can. For everyone's sake. Not just...

"Hey, you okay? You're spacing out Bro." Ryuji flicks him dead center in the forehead, interrupting his inner monologue. How rude. Can't a bro tell when another bro needs to do an edgy inner monologue? Sheesh.

"Huh? What?" Akira goes for the dumb route so the other will explain what he missed out of a bit of pity and mostly exacerbation.

"Man, you weren't even listening!?"

Ann joins in this side conversation by appearing at their side in an instant. "Ha, can't believe concentrated toughie Akira was in La La Land." She shakes her head with a grin. "We were discussing which shop has the worst crepes. So far, we've narrowed it down to two places, that crepe stand me and Goro went to once, and Barbra's Desserts." She holds up two fingers for each place, unintentionally doing the victory sign or peace sign. Whatever you call it as.

"Hmm." This nugget of information does nothing for him. "I have no option on the matter." His friends laugh at his reply, thinking from the way he worded it from the tone of voice he used to deliver it, that it was a joke. It was not a joke though. Not at all. Things like crepes had no place in his mind right now. He was focusing on other things. Like Goro, and him not dying horribly.

"Are you three going to come back in or not?" Haru ask from behind Yusuke. The gangly blue haired boy stares quizzingly at them as well. Ann is quick to loudly proclaim 'Coming!~' and grab both the wrists of Akira and Ryuji. Dragging them back over to the main group. Makoto is about comment on something when she ducks as a frisbee flies overhead.

"Woah!"

"Eek!"

"Oh God-"

"Oh."

Ryuji, Haru, Goro, and Yusuke all reacted while the others were just fine with quiet resolves and exchanging surprised looks. _What the Hell?_ _Did someone throw that at us? _Turning around only proved his train of thought false as a group of middle schoolers fervently apologize a ways away. One girl even yells that she meant to hit another person. Assumingly her friend.

Makoto shakes her head at them once her heart stop racing like a horse and picks up the offending piece of plastic. "You kids need to be careful!" She shouts and goes to return it. She adds in a few more lines which are no doubt some type of scolding words, but she's too far way for him to make out clearly by then. Plus; while this may seem mean, he doesn't care to know nor hear. Akira redirects his attention to the rest of his group. They seem to find the whole thing hilarious now that they're aware they weren't in any danger, except for maybe Makoto. Taking a frisbee to the teeth isn't fun or pretty.

"Geez, I actually thought something was happening..." Ann sigh. The blonde popped some of her knuckle causing Yusuke to shift uncomfortably from the gesture. The girl lacks in noticing this and chuckles. "How badly do you think she's going to scold those kids?"

"Someone's gonna think she's their mom." The blond jokes instead, adding a smile that shows off his shark teeth.

While Akira is tempted to roll his eyes at Ryuji's comment (Morgana is very much groaning from inside his bag), Goro goes right for the kill. He's that type of person.

"Perhaps you've come to this conclusion based off a reflection of this scene?"

"Huh?"

A few of his friends face palm at his ignorance.

"He's insulting you." Ann clarifies.

"He's saying your mom probably did the exact same thing to you-"

"Hey!" Ryuji interrupts Akira as soon as he realizes what's going on.

The brunet has the tenacity and prods forward. With a grin lining his face as well._ Goro's walking on hot coals, but I'll let him have his fun. He deserves it at this point... _

"She's coming back guys." Haru snaps the 6 of them back into reality. Sure enough, Makoto's strides back to rejoin them with a gruntled look on her face. Akira was surprised. He thought she would come back disgruntled of all things, but whatever. The kids must've just shut their mouths and nodded along to whatever she said like bobble heads. Probably to avoid further lecturing. Smart kiddos.

He feels like it's about time to check his phone and when he does it's 2 hours before they left on the 1st time. He could wait longer and join in conversation (he completely ignores the worried looks Goro shoots over to him, he brushes off Morgana when the cat pestering him about what's wrong). He doesn't. He wants to play it safe and have everyone leave **now**. Or at the very least, leave with Goro. The others should be fine with whatever decision they make. Whether that's staying or leaving, they shouldn't have anything happen to them. Whatever phenomenon that's occurring seems to be targeting Goro. Which in all honesty is stressful, but at least it's limited to only one person. Akira's not sure how well he's going to fare if this wasn't the case. He interrupts his bubbies' interrogation of Makoto, the latter of which shoots him a thankful look from freeing her from more useless questions. Now he is always up for that. "Hey guys." Akira reaches up to twirl part of his bangs between his index and middle finger. His friends shut up quick to his interruption, having been so used to it when he was leading them through the Metaverse fighting shadows last year. Good, he wants their attention and knows they'll hang onto every word he says. He doesn't like talking, so when he does it's usually a dry joke or he wants you to hear what he has to say. (Unless you're Morgana or Goro, he's comfortable enough around those two to be considered 'chatty'.) "I know it's not even noon yet, but maybe we should call it a day?" He shrugs in a nonchalant manner as he talks, but it is forced. He hopes his friends don't take notice. The moment he sees Goro's frown deepen from the corner of his peripheral, he knows what's going to happen. Things are about to not fall in his favor.

They said that every action has an equal reaction and thinks about how lucky he was that many things were stirred in his favor. Even when they were not, things worked themselves out and they made it...all of them. The opposite end of this was Goro, who had the whole system rigged against him. He was the unlucky human vessel for a false god to mold. Both Goro and himself were two tricksters with different conditions set on them, just to see which would come on top at the end. Just because Igor wanted to prove that false god wrong.

Akira wondered in the past (it kept him up many nights when he had pretended to be asleep so Morgana wouldn't claw him) if he was the same, or if he was randomly picked by Igor to be his trickster. The scary thing was, he never had that burring inquiry answered. He still doesn't know.

This _scenario _; for a better lack of terms, is getting a little taste of what Goro might have felt. The world and its magical components and conditions were rigged against him. Even now, he's about to be question when usually they just smile and agree. If not, they pouted and complained. At the moment he was getting a frown and probably would receive resistance (from the person he was trying to protect no less).

"Akira, are you okay? You seem listless. More so than usual." Goro bit his tongue, like he wanted to say more, just not in front of them. He places a hand on his shoulder and...

_Oh, he was just worried about me. _Akira suddenly feels like a jerk. He bites his bottom lips and shoves both hands into the pocket of his jeans. He can see as plain as day that his friends show similar faces of concern and furrowed brows as well. This is...this is good actually. He can use this to his advantage to get everyone to leave quicker. He pretends to be nervous by shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Sorry, I just don't feel too good today."

Yusuke is the first to speak. "Are you sick?"

Of course he would ask that. Though the others seem to jump on as well.

"Are you good?" Ann, asking a simple yes or no question.

"You shouldn't force yourself to go outside if you're feeling under the weather, Akira." Makoto with her 'I'm an annoyed older sister' talk.

"For real?" Ah, Ryuji with...Ryuji talk. He probably doesn't even realize he has a catchphrase or the fact he is using it for the millionth time.

Haru is a little different. She takes her time to speak. To stare at him a bit longer to figure things out and in that quite soft voice she always uses, "You're not feeling ill, am I correct?"

The others look at her and all Akira can do is nod.

Goro gives him a side hug. "If you're not feeling up for this, we can go back to Leblanc. You didn't need to feel obliged to come here..."

The glasses wearing boy huffs. "I know, I just-"_ How do I make this sound realistic? _"I'm the who set this up, it'll be stupid if I didn't go." He leans on his boyfriend to add to his cause. They better buy this.

And they do.

"It's okay if you love birds leave early. We'll just stay here for a few more hours, probably look around this place." Ann gesticulates wildly around to her surroundings. "Just make sure to text the group chat once ya'll get there. Oh! And Akira." She turns towards him and takes his right hand out of his pocket. "I hope your mood improves. Get some sleep, okay?"

"I'll try." He grunts and reclaims his hand.

"Don't worry Lady Ann, I'll make sure he just some rest instead of getting lost in Goro's eyes!" His friends laugh at Morgana's sudden proclamation. It gets a chuckle out of the couple too.

And then the gunshots fire.

He can't even tell you how everyone reacted, there were so many reactions, so many faces of panic, horror, and surprise. It made his stomach sink. The rest might as well have been a blur, because all that felt real to him, all that he could understand, was the sound of multiple bullets going on. People running and shouting, sounds of children screaming like banshees and borderline hysterical crying. He knows multiple people got hit. It _heard _it. What he didn't expect when turning with his friend to run away from the lunatic gunner, was if his friends could get hurt. He thought no. They couldn't.

He was wrong.

It happened to Haru. Sweet, innocent, fluffy haired, little Haru.

Her face explodes into gore and viscera. He's sure some of her brain matter and clunk of her skull gets on him, gets on the others. There's so much red and other colors none of them were meant to see. Akira watches on in ever forming horror and wonders why he's still here seeing this and not waking up at his bed — until he does.

He wakes up the 5th time to throwing up bile in the toilet again. Heaving his lungs out and not being able to stop gagging enough to stomach breakfast. He finds it in himself that he doesn't want to eat now. Regretting it later be damn. He just saw one of his friend's head explode.

In other terms, he's a hot mess.

The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th time was spent in a similar vain. Ryuji had diverted the group to go jogging. A mugging was occurring not far from the trail they were on. Ryuji had jumped in to help the old woman but ended up being stabbed in all the wrong places. It was a word he can't find watching his best friend bleed out and not being able to do a damn thing about until the ambulance could arrive. Spoiler, he woke up before it even got there. He tired not to think about what that implied. Then Ann wanted to buy some sweets. Akira was nearly convinced that this day would end with no casualties, but just as the Goro was ready to leave, Ann is hit by a driver swerving into the pedestrian's section to take out as much people as they could. The 8th was spent studying at Makoto's place, just as he thought that nothing could happen to them while at a prosecutor's home, someone breaks into the house and holds them all hostage. Someone wanting revenger on Sae; Makoto's older sister, the prosecutor. Goro, the only one who would be capable to disarm a woman with a gun, gives Akira a spark of hope he's going to save the day. But the woman is beyond reason and Akira fails to keep her talking long enough for him to sneak up on her. She runs of patience and settled for getting her sister instead. Akira made sure that time to look away as to not see Makoto get shot, he lingers long enough in that loop to hear the gun and everyone's surprised and scared cries before being tossed into the 9th loop. Yusuke goes in a way not even the noiret expected. The blue haired boy took out his sketch pad at one point to draw out something that caught his eye, who knows what it was, considering. At that time everyone chatted while he was in his own little world, he gets like that when he draws or paints. He finishes his piece, and everyone heard his stomach growl. Goro offers to buy him food and they migrate as a herd to a nearby shop. Before they can all get in through, something from the place above the shop falls; an object. Akira never figured out what it was. He just saw something blurry descends and crush Yusuke dead on.

He's glad he wakes up right after.

Awake before dusk, the boy sits up in his bed. He's getting real tired of this. He doesn't want to go through another loop. 'Gods' or whatever **_thing_ **is doing this be damned. He can still hear Morgana sleeping soundly, blissfully unaware. He wished he had that ignorance or maybe even just a shy feeling of déjà vu in turn for the complete lucid experience he was going through now. His hand are folded like for prayer, and he lets his head rest on them. He thinks about what he should do. Now all his friends have died at least once...expect Futaba, who was busy in her house. He doesn't want to find out if she'll be affected by this, even though she was never out with them on any of the 23rds. He was not going to go see her, he had no intentions of watching somebody he considers a little sister die. No, just, no. He continues to sit there...and it comes to him that he has a hard time remembering what he did Friday, there's been so many Saturdays. He wonders when he can see a Sunday again.

When it's six and daylight starts to fade in, he throws on a jacket and sneaks past Morgana. He could hear Sojiro in the backroom getting something and mentally thanks God and anime; both on his side today, as to humor himself. Even for a bit. He maneuvered himself to a certain alley way he hasn't visited since the Metaverse merged with reality. The shop it's next to thought? He's been there penalty of times since. The owner; while not nice per se, he did get along with, so there's that going for him. Walking down a dark alley filled him with anger. He wanted answers and he wanted then _now_. Luckily for him, Lavenza had been right. He still could access the Velvet Room.

Opening his eyes met him with a world of blue.

"Trickster, you're back. I'd thought you'd be here sooner. Having trouble, is it?" Igor grinned widely. Lavenza made no motions to move from leaning against the side of Igor's desk.

"What the _Hell _is going on?" Akira hissed, feeling his anger lick at his bone, feeling his sins crawling on his back, feeling his failures clawing at his skin.

Igor grinned even wider.

_Smug old bas- _

"The one who seeks you, you seek. It is only fated then that you shall meet, **go down**."

Lavenza finally moves when her master is done speaking. She walks over to Akira and grabs his hand, only to lead him down the long corridor lined with prison cells. He's been here before, this is where he had to find his friends when they were wiped out of existence by the false god, Yaldabaoth. He found Goro here too. He walked forward down the corridor out of curiosity after releasing his friends. He found him tucked away, beyond many empty cells. He died not too long ago at the time and to have found him there...

He is shaken away from his thoughts when Lavenza stop dead in her tracks. He nearly collides with her despite her holding his hand. There is a painfully bright light in front of them. She merely points at it and bids him good luck. He is left cold and alone after that.

He steps in covering his face.

The world is black.

He looks up, there he is, and he doesn't understand. None of this really makes sense. Magic doesn't make sense. He should stop trying to make any sense of this. He decides action might be the only way. And oh boy, was he dying for some of that.

Yaldabaoth is but a golden thing looming above him, somehow having awoken from its dormant state. Which, to be fair, was in fact its corpse being used as a fancy cup, so pardon Akira if he got frustrated that he would have to kill the same being twice without any back up this time. At least he could use his true persona, Satanael to get rid of him like he did before.

**_"You think you can just kill me again that easy? I know you of Fool. Inching to rip off that mask. Do you understand why I am doing this?" _**

Akira doesn't, just shifts and feels the costume that took the place of his clothes when he got here. There must be a gun in here, he can already feel that his dagger is still latched on his belt. Ah-ha! There it is, now he needs to prepare. Yaldabaoth is nowhere near as powerful as he once was. Even he can sense it, that shift in power. It was much weaker since their last meeting together.

**_"Justice belongs to me. I molded his life, his path. He is my chess pieces to dispose of. I am not surprise Igor has not gotten rid of his yet." _**

Even though this thing doesn't have a face, he knows it's looking down on him in disgust. Like he was some bug crawling up his shin or something. "Shut up." And the boy raises his gun and rips off his mask at the same time. The boy pulls the trigger as blue flames lick at the nothingness around him, in this bleak insipid world space. A colossal of a giant forms behind him and fires its gun too. Then there is silence. Can this move on quicker? He doesn't have time for this, doesn't want to listen to this thing blah away about stuff. He just wants everyone to be safe, and sleep for like, 3 days.

The is a rumbling growl coming for the gold being. Akira can feel it. Another shot from the both of them and it'll be dead once more. Like it should be.

**_"You are maddened with rage; it was not my intention to keep you bound. Your own master is to blame, Fool. He wouldn't let him stay dead, so it was in my judgement to make you give up by-"_ **

_"Shut up!" _Akira spits. "You're talking too much!" And he pulls the trigger again. Another shot from Satanael goes in too.

The being dodges, surprisingly and Akira just feels his blood boil under his skin.

**_"I can forget about Justice and your friends if you take their place instead. A wildcard for a wildcard. Wouldn't you agree?"_ **

And for a split moment, Akira's eyes widen a fraction of a bit and he considers the offer, they live-he dies. Well...

There's a growl in his head, Satanael reminding him what he needs to be doing, slaying. He shakes his head to deter those betraying thought. Slaying. That's just what he'll do. Akira raises his gun once more and pulls the trigger.

Akira opens his eyes to daytime, facing a brick wall in a shady-looking alley way. There was no grand finale. No robust ending or even a satisfying conclusion. Yaldabaoth didn't even have enough time to threaten him properly. Just a wisp of it really, but who cares?! It's done, no more 23rds! Akira can't help but crack a smile and giggle to himself. He feels so much lighter now. He checks the time on his phone. That must've taken what, 1, 2 hours?

_It's 6:34PM. Oh my God, I've been gone the whole day. _His phone is chalked full of messages from basically everyone and he runs head back to Leblanc as quickly as he can. When he arrives, Sojiro's waiting for him on one of the stools. While all his other friends (with Futaba, gosh, he feels like he hasn't seen her in over a week, which he technically hasn't) were loudly seated at a cozy booth. Home sweet home.

"Where have you been?" Sojiro immediately pipes up, which it must look the worst from his perspective. Akira was gone before the sun was fully up, didn't check out with him, ignored any messages or calls he might have received, and gets back pretty late. Yeah, that looks suspicious for all intensive purposes.

Akira just open his mouth and stares at his friends. They can't wait anymore and surround him. Bombarding him with questions and prodding him with active inquiries. Sojiro tries to get them to settle down, but he is rather ineffective in his method. Oh, the joys of being an adult.

Goro hugs him tight and begins to tell him how worried his got. Akira could tell Goro was displeased, but the hug did wonders to him and his floodgates open up. Everyone gets alarmed by his sudden crying. He rips off his faux glasses and proceeds to dry his eyes on Goro's shoulder. The hug only got tighter from there.

* * *

When he finds himself calmed down enough and feed a meal of coffee and curry; courtesy of Sojiro, and all eyes are on him. He's not sure how to feel about that. He just knows he feels emotionally and physically exhausted. He's still looking forward to that 3 day nap. Or is that considered a coma by that point? Eh, whatever. He still wants it.

Futaba coaxed him in a quiet tone. "Kira?" She uses a nickname. "Are you ready to talk about what happened?"

He can feel Goro's hand holding his, his thumb making stoking motions to help comfort him. Akira's all for it. Talking, however? Not so much. He would tell them, just not right now. Maybe not tomorrow either. The overmorrow perhaps? Sojiro would be included on the retelling to, after all, the man had found out about the magical jazz around the time Futaba joined. It was kind of her fault too but...that doesn't really matter right now. In the end he breathes in deep and pulls a shaky smile. He knows it's shaky; he can't make anything else. "I'm really drained at the moment. I just want to go to sleep. Can I tell you guys tomorrow?"

**-FIN-**


End file.
